The Serpents' Shadows
by AsunaXxXKirito
Summary: Acronian Valor, a loner at Beacon Acadamy and the only solo team due to a slight "miscalculation" of the number of students on Ozpin's part. He is a first year who is very silent and isolated due to amnesia. But when he is challenged by one of the top teams of the school and wins, he becomes very popular indeed, but he wants nothing if it, or the mask everyone wants to see behind.
1. Trailer

The Shadow, as his nickname was, collapsed to his knees in the middle of the fight, memories flashing through his head. He remembers a cage, and other people in the cage. He recognized some of them, knowing they were all dead because of him. He remembers surgeries, and that he was an Alpha. He remembers an escape, and dead bodies that littered the floors of a lab. "They" made him into a monster, a fighting machine.

"Whassa matter Acro? Shadow can't take any more?" Came the taunt from one of his opponents.

The Shadow said nothing as he fought off the broken memories and won. He stood up to his four attackers who were now trying to take advantage of his stumble. The one reptilian eye that shown a piercing emerald green under the black bandages keeping his head hidden from the rest of the world caught the movements, two from the front, one from behind, and an arial attack. He moved accordingly, taking strength from his fractured memories.

He drew a gleaming katana from the sheath on his back, and the other launched itself upward toward the arial attack, propelled by a high powered shot, it hit the figure in the sky in the jaw. The Shadow used a downward shot on his sheaths to jump up to the falling attacker, grab his falling katana, and spin kick him down toward the attack that was coming from behind. They would not be getting up.

'Two down,' The Shadow thought as his sheaths transformed into shoulder mounted guns while he was falling. He launched a volley of bullets at the remaining two attackers, but they dodged, barely. Sensing they were off balance, he landed as his guns transformed back to sheaths and launched himself toward the remaining challengers, his back flat and low to the ground. He swung his swords as he moved with an almost unparalleled speed back and forth past his attackers, knocking them with the flats of his twin katanas. Propelling himself with his sheath shots, he landed a final crushing blow to one, knocking her into the last one before both hit the wall, leaving cracks webbing out almost ten feet in diameter.

'They didn't stand a chance... I may have overdone it' He thought as he walked out of the arena, leaving the other team to be taken to the infirmary.

A/N: This is only set in the world of RWBY, not about the team as you can plainly read. However, the teams you know and love may make an appearance if I can work it in.


	2. Chapter 1

ACRONIAN:

Acronian woke up in an alley with one thought, Beacon. He didn't know where he was, why he was there, just his name and 'beacon'. But what was 'beacon'? His head was bandaged except for his right eye, a thought came to him again and he could hear faint voices in the back of his conscience. "Clear out the rest if the subjects, STAT! That's an order!" Came a female voice, he didn't recognize it.

His right eye hurt, a lot. He couldn't figure out what the words meant, he stumbled out of the alley clutching his stomach, he felt sick. Acronian shambled into the light of a light post next to a store and took a good look at himself, black bandages covered his entire head except for his eye... it was a green snake's eye. His chest was covered with a semi tight black shirt, which tucked into a pair of grey pants, held up by bandages covering his stomach. More of the same bandages covered his arm and sleeves. He wore a dark grey cloak with circular rips at the end, and a circular, device seemed embedded in his back, near the base of his neck in the middle of his spine. His hands were covered with midway gloves.

'Where am I?' Acronian thought as his emerald eye looked all around, he noticed a gleaming object from the next alley way. He knew instinctively that this would help... whatever 'this' was. He walked, or stumbled, and seemed to reach it in a matter of seconds. He picked up the object and looked at it curiously. What he had in his hands was pair of thick, heavy sheaths, joined at the middles by a circular rotator, it almost looked like the indents matched the ones on his device in his spine. It also had thin compartments filled with belts of blue shotgun shells in crisscrossing packs that looked like they went around the chest area. He didn't know how he recalled what was on his back, but he knew these were his.

He pulled out a gleaming katana blade from one of the sheaths, unsure of whether he remembered them or not, they seemed somehow familiar. He sheathed the blade and tried putting the contraption over his shoulders, the straps fit perfectly over his chest, and then he heard a loud click as the sheaths lined up with the device on his back and attached. Instantly, memories on how to work the scabbards filled his head. It was all connected to his brain, though how it got like that he had no idea.

He remembered to calibrate it, the right one spun 180 degrees back and forth on demand and it's twin did the same after that. Next was the guns, he drew the two swords and dry-fired the four guns, two out the top, and two out the bottom. When he was satisfied he gave the mental command to have his sheaths transform into two shoulder mounted shotguns. Their black carbon fiber finishes glinting in the dim light of a lamp-post. He dry fired them before finishing his calibration by transforming them back to sheaths and inserting his blades into them with practiced ease. He didn't remember where they were from, but he definitely knew he was no stranger to them at this point; he had been using them for a long time it seemed like.

The thought crossed his mind again; beacon. He decided to go to a nearby shop with its lights still on, it was probably very late at night. The signs on the window said "Dust sale!"; he had no idea who the fuck would want to buy dust. The door chimed as he opened the door and entered the shop, the first thing he noticed was the many different colors of crystals lining the walls and under the glass counter for display. The old-ish looking guy behind the counter looked up from his ledger, he did not look at all surprised by the sight of a sword wielding, bandage covered, snake-eyed teenager walking into his shop.

"What can I do for you lad?" He respectfully inquired, but he was not prepared by the kids' answer.

"Y-you're not surprised by my eye?" Acronian asked in return, surprised.

The man gave a hearty laugh, "Good heavens no, I've seen worse, although that eye is rather intriguing. You are a snake Faunus, yes? Don't see many of those around." He said.

"What's a Faunus?"

The man was terribly confused, was this kid bluffing? "Where have you been living kid, under a rock?" He sounded slightly irritated.

"I'm sorry, sir, if I'm bugging you," Acronian was terribly embarrassed, "but I don't remember anything but my name, my swords, and a word, beacon." He fidgeted his hands while he asked, but he sounded entirely serious.

The man was take aback, here was a youngster who looked menacing, but here he was, embarrassingly asking him what his race was, and practically what Beacon Academy was. There was no other explanation other than the simple fact that the kid probably didn't know anything about anything.

"You really don't know anything?"

"Do I sound like I'm not serious? I don't even know where I am. Can you just tell me what beacon is and I'll be on my way."

The man was still skeptical, "It's the middle of the night kiddo, where are you going to go with nothing on you? You can't even get into Beacon without money or taking the test." He told him.

Acronian was still confused, "Test? What test? Is Beacon a school or something? And how do I get there? Can't I just walk?"

The man scratched his chin, "The entrance exam, my boy. Beacon Academy is a school to train huntsmen and huntresses, and if you wanted to walk I guess you could, maybe take a few days if you traveled hard through the forests, but it's dangerous because of the Grimm."

Again, a word Acronian didn't remember, "Uhh, what's a Grimm." He asked.

The man sighed, "Dangerous creatures, if you don't remember what those are you'll stand no chance against them. Listen, kiddo, this is for one reason and one reason only: I really feel like you're telling the truth, and believe me I'm good at judging people. How about I lend you a place to sleep for the night and I'll get you close enough to Beacon. After that, you're on your own, it's the most I can do."

A place to sleep didn't sound bad, he was developing a headache, and his swords did a 360 as he spoke, a silent agreement for 'yes', but the man didn't know that...

"How did you do that?" He asked when he saw the sheaths move on their own.

"What? Oh these," Acronian said, pointing to his swords, "Dunno. I just found them in an alleyway and they fit this device on my back, everything on them is controlled by thoughts." He wasn't sure that he should be telling the guy this, but he was giving him a place to stay.

The man was extremely surprised, "That stuff's not easy to find, boy, did you really just find them?"

Acronian decided it was probably good to tell him what he knew about the blades, "Well, yes and no. I DID find them in a nearby alley, but no, I remember I've had these for a long time, how to use them, what they can do, but nothing else." He answered as honestly as possible.

The man scratched his chest again, "Hmm, I'm not going to question you on it, but that's rather interesting, boy. I'm about to close up shop so we'd best be going." He jingled a ring of keys and Acronian went outside to wait while the man turned off the lights, flipped the open sigh to closed, and locked the door.

They two walked for about three blocks before they reached a decent looking two story house. To Acronian, it seemed like heaven.

"Welcome to my home, you'll be staying in the guest room on the right as you go into the entrance, the bathroom is down the hall on the left at the end before the kitchen. Acronian semi-knew what he was talking about, but he was sure he'd figure it out.

"I can't thank you enough sir, is there any way I can pay you back? Any way at all?" Acronian said as they walked in the front door and he spotted his room for the night.

The man chuckled, "Sonny, this is no problem, I needed something interesting to happen sooner or later. Forget about a payment, this is interesting enough for me."

Acronian had a feeling of intrusion once he nodded his agreement and stepped into his temporary room. He mentally disconnected the sheaths from his connector and removed them, setting them down on the floor leaning on the bed that dominated the room. There was not much else other than the plush-looking queen-sized bed. An antique desk was hidden by shadows in the corner opposite the door, and a few pictures hung from the walls. Near the corner opposite the door and the desk was a heater.

Acronian looked down at his feet and saw he was wearing simple black sandals over bandage covered feet, the bandages covered almost up to his knee and went over his pants. He didn't know how he'd get out of the clothes he had, but he was too tired to figure it out. He went to sleep in his clothes, on the floor near the heater after taking a pillow from the bed. The ground was a very soft carpet indeed, and he felt himself slip into darkness almost immediately.


	3. Chapter 2

ACRONIAN:

The next morning moved extremely quickly, Acronian had woken up promply at 6:30 and waited for the man to wake up and take him to Beacon. It was almost an hour before the old man had gotten up and came downstairs to see Acronian meditating, trying to recall memories.

Both their stomachs rumbled at the same time, "I think that's a sign," said Acronian, "That our stomachs require assistance." And they both laughed. Breakfast was a simple egg and toast breakfast, Acronian had said he didn't want anything fancy. Once the two were finished they left the house and got into a truck that was in the driveway. And sped off to begin Acronian's adventure. An hour of driving past and they could begin to see a very tall, very pointy structure on top of a hill, or was it a mountain?

Acronian pointed to the structure, "That it?" He asked.

The man nodded, "Yes, and I can only take you to the city outside of the academy, after that you are on your own." He told him, "But if you do make it there, which I have no doubts you will, ask to speak to Professor Ozpin. He's the headmaster and he can make the arrangements for your admission since they stopped taking them about a week or two ago. Just, be polite in front of him, wouldn't want to make a bad impression. And keep those bandages on, the people here can be pretty prejudiced towards Faunus sometimes." Acronian nodded his head in understanding. The rest of the drive was in silence.

The city near the Academy was huge, Acronian thought it was familiar. A memory was lodged in his head somewhere about this place, he just had to find it. He thought that if he could find a trigger, like with his swords, he could remember why and when he was here.

The man dropped Acronian at an intersection with directions to Beacon, and he became instantly confused, 'What's a Shamen street?' He thought to himself. He was still thinking hard about the directions when someone tapped his shoulder. Some reflex in Acronian's muscle memory identified it as a danger, and he drew a sword as he grabbed the hand touching him and flipped the unknown person to the ground. His sword pointed at the stranger's face.

"Ow ow ow ow! That hurt!" Came the sound of a small female voice. Acronian regained control of his actions and put his sword away.

He was terribly embarrassed, "Sorry, instincts." He said quietly. He just hurt a girl, and a cute one at that. She was still rubbing her back in pain, she had a dark blue hair color that flowed down to her mid back. She had a thin-ish, not-tanned-but-not-white body covered by a white short cut jacket, black shirt, incredibly dark red pants pants, and a pair of high heel black boots. Pink eyes stared back up at Acronian with curiosity, and pain.

Acronian backed away slowly, people were staring. He reached out a hand and lifted her up when she accepted it. "Sorry..." He said again, still shying away. He didn't think he'd be having to actually talk to people.

The girl reached out a hand and grabbed him again, "Wait," She said, "Are you lost?"

Acronian nodded, still looking away, "Do you know where you're heading?" She asked.

"Beacon," Acronian responded softly, he felt like talking less and less to this mysterious girl, "I was told to talk to a professor Ozpin."

"No need to be a shy guy, I'm actually starting up there next school year. So if you want to talk to the headmaster, I can try and get you there." She held out a greeting hand, "My name's Safire Shor, that's s-a-f-i-r-e-s-h-o-r, not the other way."

Acronian didn't really get a comfortable feeling around her, but he decided that since she was offering him a hand he should take it. At least he didn't have to decipher the list of names the man left him. "Acronian, Acronian Valor." He said when he shook her hand.

Once they were done Safire went and grabbed an umbrella that she must have dropped when Acronian flipped her, "Okay, let's go." Safire said with a smile and started skipping down the street almost in the opposite direction of the academy.

"Uhh," Acronian spoke out loud, "Isn't Beacon that way?" He shrugged and started walking after the blue haired girl. The duo found their way through the maze of streets while Safire talked and gossiped. Acronian just got stares, he was still dressed pretty much in bandages.

"Is everywhere like this?" Acronian asked, interrupting Safire's current talk on how much she liked her pet bunny back at home.

"Huh," She asked, "What do you mean?"

"Don't you see it, everyone's looking at me." His hands were clenched from discomfort.

Safire gave him a laugh, "Silly boy, look at what you're wearing, they're used to battle ready armors, not bandages. That's why they're looking at you, if you wanted incognito status, you should've dressed appropriately."

Acronian mumbled to himself, "I don't have any other clothes."

"What was that?"

"Nothing." They continued on they're way, fifteen minutes later they arrived at an incredibly large landing platform. Airships were everywhere, some were landing, others taking off, and some were being offloaded and loaded, exited and boarded, people were everywhere going about their business.

Safire signaled for Aconian to follow her, and they walked to one of the airships that wasn't doing anything. Safire got in and called out to no one in particular, "Pilot! Take us to Beacon." She flashed a card on a scanner on a wall, and the engine started up.

"Hurry up Acronian! Don't want to miss you're first time to Beacon!" Acronian nodded and jumped up to the rising aircraft. They flew the rest of the way in silence, a stark contrast to the Safire he just met. Acronian sat to her right, so he didn't think she'd seen his eye yet, 'She'll figure it out.' He thought to himself, she was capable of getting him to Beacon.

They landed just a minute later and Safire waved to the pilot, he waved back and took off again, leaving them in a large circular courtyard/landing platform.

"Come on this way, Ozpin is in the center tower, at the top but don't worry, there's an elevator so you don't have to walk, well I mean you CAN walk but I wouldn't recommend it." She continued on as her bubbly self while they walked and Acronian looked around, the place was amazing. Large towers, grand arches, vibrant courtyards, everything was on a massive scale. They walked into a building at the base of the center most tower, it was a lobby.

Safire walked to one of the desks, "Can I help you miss?" Came the chirpy voice of a female holographic receptionist.

"Yes, I have a friend would like to see professor Ozpin please. Is he in?" Safire asked.

The receptionist paused for a moment, "He is in, but he would like to know the reason for wanting to see him."

"It's for enrollment, but it's a little more complicated than that. The headmaster needs to hear this for himself." Safire turns toward Acronian, who is still in the back, near the shadows, "He's got a bit of an amnesia problem."

The receptionist paused again, "He says you may enter, but only your friend."

Safire knew that there was usually no way around Ozpin's words, so although disappointed, directed Acronian to the elevator.

"Good luck." Safire said as the door was closing.

A/N: I know so far it's a bit slow so far but I promise I'll try and get some action into the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 3

ACRONIAN:

The doors slip open soundlessly to reveal a large circular room, turning gears made up the roof, and a single lone desk was in front of a very large window. The chair behind the desk was facing away from him. Acronian exited the elevator and it hissed shut. He approached the desk until he was maybe ten feet away, he didn't know why but he prepared himself for an interrogation.

The chair turned and showed the person behind it, a grey-haired man with glasses, a cane, and coffee mug. His eyes were gentle but still retained a calculating look. He looked absolutely unfazed by the decently scary figure in front of him, "So you are the one who wanted to join late. What is you're name?" He asked.

"Acronian Valor, sir. But that is about all I know other than how to use my sword; I have amnes-"

"I am well aware of you're situation," Ozpin interrupted, "Now tell me, why do you want to join my academy? I have no foreknowledge of anyone like you, you don't show up in citizen registries, and to top it off, you're a snake Faunus that's covered in bandages like you're hiding something."

Acronian was staring at him with surprise, he recovered his bearings and words started slipping out of his mouth, "I'm sorry sir but even I don't know what's under these bandages, I just woke up this morning with a couple of memories, my name and Beacon. I figured that this is the place to go. I felt if I came here I could regain some memories like I did with my swords."

Ozpin nodded his approval, "And what will you do once you regain your memories? It is possible that you will turn into a completely different person." He said.

"I won't let that happen." Acronian said simply.

"Can you guarantee that?

"No, but I can certainly try."

Ozpin gave him a funny look, "I like your determination young man. Very well, I will make an exception for allowing you into the entrance courses. I assume you have some combat skills ingrained in you somewhere, but I doubt you will have any knowledge skills. So for now I'll exempt you from them, you take the combat exam and will be placed accordingly, your knowledge classes will be basic if that."

Acronian was surprised, "Thank you sir, I will try my hardest." He turned to the elevator to leave when he was stopped by Ozpin.

"One last thing," He said, "You should know that many of the students are quite prejudiced against the Faunus. So before you go I want you to remove some of the bandages covering your head," He pressed a button somewhere on his desk and a mirror slid up from a slot in the floor, "Don't worry you can put them back on later."

Acronian stepped into the elevator with his head buzzing, he was excited that he had accomplished the original goal his mind set for him, but he didn't like what was under those bandages. 'If anyone finds out, I'm dead.' He thought to himself. The elevator wasn't too terribly fast so it took a minute or two to reach the ground floor. He was met with a surprise when the doors opened.

There was a group of people carrying various video recording devices, 'A camera crew?' Acronian thought. They were currently interviewing Safire, over what he didn't know but he decided that he was going to listen in.

"-you think of the Faunus and the White Fang? Do you feel that Faunus should be treated by the public as equals?" The reporter was asking.

'White Fang?' Acronian thought, his right eye started hurting at the sudden thought, he felt like his mind was trying to remember something, but wasn't quite getting it. 'A trigger...' He thought, he just needed to get a little more in depth to what the White Fang was.

Suddenly Safire's response came clear into his head, "Of course not! I mean, take a look at the White Fang (Acronian's eye starts hurting again), they're violent murderers with no sense of what's right and what's wrong. I think the Faunus should just go away!" She said with what sounded almost what was a pouty voice. Acronian stood there, shocked.

The reporter turned back to the camera to continue the broadcast and Safire was released from the circle of cameras only to see Acronian standing there, his eye wide open for her to see. Her eyes widened when she finally noticed Acronian's eye was a snake eye, she covered her mouth and Acronian hung his head down and walked past her.

"Acronian wait!" She called out, grabbing his hand.

He spun around and whispered with a sword drawn and at her neck, "You should pay attention to what you're friends are, because with words like that, you just lost a very trusting one." He released her, "I should have stayed away, should have took their advice. If everyone here is like you and hates Faunus, then I'm the very epitome of everything you hate. Stay away from me from now on, I thank you for your help." He said and walked away.

"Where will you go now?" Safire called out, "You need my help to get around, don't you?"

Acronian gave a laugh, "Not anymore, I'm on my way to the combat exams, I have a map." He pulled out a sheet of paper with detailed images of where to go on it from underneath his bandages covering his waist. "Goodbye, Safire."

"Acronian wait!" She called out, but he was already out the door. She followed him but when she came out he was already gone. Safire sank to her knees, she had never lost a friend before.

Acronian made it to the practice arena where the combat exam was being held with no troubles, the directions given to him by Headmaster Ozpin were much clearer that those that the man had given him. The twelve people gathered for the exam grew silent when he showed up, feeling intimidated by the mysterious man in bandages.

Acronian silently handed the observers a note from Ozpin that said he was entered into the exam registry. They told him to wait in the stands for his turn. He didn't really pay much attention to the people going before him; he was thinking about his squabble with Safire. He didn't really know why he said the things he said, it was probably how he acted before he lost his memories.

"Mr. Valor, your up." Came the voice of one of the observers. Acronian had absolutely no idea what the exam was going to be, he should have payed attention. Little did he know that would have absolutely not helped in the slightest because each test was different.

"Your exam will be a little different from the rest, Mr. Valor, because the bots used in this scenario will be using live rounds as per request of the headmaster." The lead observer said.

'Huh? Live rounds? Why?' Acronian thought. Pillars of different heights and widths grew from the floor, and ten robots were activated for battle, each carried some sort of rifle.

"Begin!"

Acronian immediately dashed behind the nearest pillar, avoiding the barrage of bullets that came mere moments afterward. 'They really don't want me in, huh? Or is this just standard?' He thought to himself. He felt like his body was nagging to be moving, and moving fast, so he let his instincts take over and his battle began.

He wasn't using propulsion from his sheaths, he just started running, and running fast. He darted out from behind the pillar and was behind another before the bots could even detect him. They were still shooting at he spot he'd been at, but Acronian was winded, that probably took a lot of energy. His head was bubbling with excitement at the prospect of fighting, he turned his sheaths and drew his swords from his sides. Using the right sheath as his momentum, he propelled himself out from behind his hiding spot and started shooting with his left sheath as a turret. Two of the bots were taken out.

The bots' rifles transformed into axes, swords, and spears in sync and charged him. 'BLOCK!' Came a sudden thought in Aconian's head, his arm suddenly came up to block an incoming axe and then propelled himself forward, swinging a sword, one more bot down.

'What was that?' Acronian thought as his body movements started flowing on automatic. The observers were standing in awe as they watched Acronian's liquid movements, impossibly slipping through the barrage of bullets, blades, and robotic fists only to end it with a quick strike from a deadly sharp katana. Between bobbing out and behind pillars and bashing robots Acronian hadn't noticed one of the bots hanging from the ceiling like a spider. Acronian cut down the last bot on the ground by cutting it vertically in half, and the one on the roof dropped.

Again, a thought came to Acronian, 'ABOVE YOU!' It seemed to shout, but the warning was not enough to keep him from being stomped on by the last bot. The new bot landed and assumed a fighting stance while Acronian recovered to get a good look at this new one seemed different, unlike the other white, red, and green ones he had previously been fighting, this one was black and carried no weapons. Acronian's body started moving out of instinct again, he put both his swords in his sheaths and kept his hands on them. The sheaths caught the internal message sent by Acronian's movements and started charging up. 'But what's it charging?' He thought. That is until he actually swung his swords out of the sheaths as the bot started attacking. He swung his swords in an "x" shape and waves of light came from his blades and went through the bot like a hot knife through butter.

The result was a pile of melting metal and a stunned group of observers. The head observer swallowed and spoke, "Mr. Valor... I think it would be our honor to welcome you to Beacon Acadamy."

A/N: I know I said that chapters would be coming out faster but I've been too excited with new ideas to write anything, I've started outlining my SAO fic and I hope to start that once my Fairy Tail fic is done, or until I can't hold it in anymore, whichever works XD.


	5. Chapter 4

School started a week later, and Acronian had been placed solo in a dorm on campus. He was told after he arrived that most dorms were filled after the school year started with teams of four, so his being there earlier, and alone, was odd. Acronian sent a letter in to Headmaster Ozpin and he said he had had Acronian placed in a solo team due to his... condition... and bypass the traditional placement exam, which Acronian figured was probably a good idea, but the dorm he was put in was still meant for a four person team, so it was far too large for Acronian by himself.

Acronian squinted at his schedule one more time before the bell rang for the first day. He was in the regular school uniform, which took away most of his bandages. He kept the bandages over his head and neck, mainly because of Ozpin strongly recommending that he keep them on even during the school day, which technically is not permitted in the class dress code. Acronian left his room and attempted to find his first combat class of many in his schedule.

He had about ten minutes to get to his class before he would be late, and about five minutes of searching in the wing where he thought the class was determined that he had absolutely no idea where he was. The campus, despite its looks at a distance and from what he had originally seen, was huge. He turned a corner he had been around before he turned a corner and bumped into someone, inducing a very familiar sensation of flipping someone onto the ground.

"Ow, god dammit what was that for!?" Came a very familiar feminine voice. Acronian recognized her instantly.

"Oh, Safire, it's you... Sorry, instinctive thing." He said quietly before he stepped back a little, remembering the last time he saw her.

"Yah, so you've told m- Hey where are you going?!" She shouted after a now running away Acronian. She gave a little chase, but Acronian was far faster than she, and soon she lost track of him, "He could have at least let me say sorry..." She said, depressed.

Acronian managed to find his class as the bell rang, and he saw a group of students milling about in small huddles having quiet conversations. He sat down at a wall and examined the room he was in. He was in a similar room to the entrance exam, exept it was circular, black for the most part, and had a screen with a blank display for name, picture, and something called aura? His eye started hurting when he read aura, he had found another locked memory. The room also had stands for the students to sit and a row of weapon lockers with the students weapons in them lined up against the stands.

The professor, a big burly man with white hair, stood at the center of the arena and called for everyone's attention, "Now I know you are all eager to pick up your weapons and begin sparring, but this is your first class at this academy, so it is essential that you learn who you will be sparring with for the rest of your years here. Now that that is out of the way, if you could all take your seats in the stands alphabetically starting at my top left as 'A' in the last name, we can begin introductions."

This wasn't too terribly hard for Acronian to do with his last name being Valor. He sat down at the bottom right, in a particularly darker area, and most of the other students found their seat without very many issues. Once everyone had settled down the professor spoke, "Alright! Now that that's settled, welcome to Simulated Sparring Level 2, I am professor Hex. There are a few first years here amongst you second years, when I call your name will you please stand up. Talon Akins," A skinny boy with a huge scar on his face stood up. "Tanalia Sheele." This time a girl with too much makeup on stood up, "And finally, Acronian Valor." Acronian stood up and immediately was bombarded with questions.

"What's with the bandages?" Came a shout.

"You gonna remove that stuff?" Came another.

"Come one, take off the bandages, we wanna see your face!" This was the last comment Acronian heard over the chatter before Mr. Hex told them to sit down and be quiet.

"Acronian has a serious medical condition according from what I've been told. So as for the bandages, they stay on." Mr. Hex said, and one boy wearing a fancy set of armor over his uniform stood up.

"Did headmaster Ozpin tell you that? If he really did have a condition that has him bandaged up, then he belongs in a hospital." He pointed to Acronian, "He's hiding something, so I'm going to find out what. Professor, seeing as this is a sparring class, I'd like to challenge this Shadow here on the conditions of his bandages. If I win, they go, and he shows us his face." Acronian remembered the fight with the bots, he remembered how his instincts just kind of took over and here was nothing that could stop him. He felt confident that he could beat this hulking mass of armor, because even if his swords can't cut it, he has his shotguns.

Mr. Hex pondered for a moment before responding, "This is an introduction session, Mr. Watts, not a sparring session. I was not given the go-ahead to mediate challenges at this moment. Unless Acronian accepts, you ca-"

"I accept your challenge, Sparky." Acronian cut in, eliciting a few snickers from his remark.

The professor looked at Acronian, "Are you sure?"

"Sure, I need the practice anyway, I'm a little rusty. This is perfect." Acronian answered.

The two grabbed they're weapons from the lockers and took to the floor, Mr. Hex explained the rules, and the countdown started from 30.

"You're going to reveal that pretty face of yours, Snake Boy." The mass of armor said to Acronian, his weapon of choice being a gleaming great sword. The match board said the guy's name was Kilan Watts, and Acronian's profile was right next to his.

Acronian drew his katanas at the five second mark and took a mobile position while Kilan took a defensive stance, reading his sword. The buzzer sounded and Acronian immediately propelled him straight past the mass of metal, striking as he passed, but his swords did absolutely nothing.

"That tickled," came a voice from behind Acronian, "think you can dodg-"

Acronian's instincts kicked in and he shot straight upwards to avoid a dangerous swing towards his chest. Propelling himself downward he landed on the still swinging great sword, the sword flew out of Kilan's hands and he stumbled back.

"You're too open with your attacks, this victory is mine." Acronian said, pointing his swords at Kilan.

Aconian put his weapon in his locker and sat down in his seat, that's when he realized he was still in his school uniform while he was dueling. The clothes were a little wrinkled, but that would be fine after a quick wash. And his sheaths had propelled him fast enough to avoid a swing and land on it, that had surprised Acronian. Apparently Acronian had had heavy combat training before waking up without his memories, there's simply no other way he'd have been able to react that fast without it. Acronian sighed, he still had a lot to learn about himself.


	6. Chapter 5

It was after classes three weeks after Acronian's duel with Kilan, and Kilan had started a rumor that Acronian was hiding something, which wasn't far off the truth. Acronian had received numerous challenges, almost a challenge a day, from the first year class, all of them looking for a peek under his bandages. At first Acronian had avoided the battles, but Ozpin had received these request with an odd decision; "let them battle you, they are no match." The fights had all been one-v-ones, duels, and as he fought more and more, Acronian learned more and more about his fighting style. He used a dodge and attack style that used erratic movements and fluid motions; no one had seen anything like it.

Acronian hadn't talked to Safire since his run-in with her in the halls, he had seen her occasionally on his way to classes but the two avoided eye contact. Acronian kind of felt bad about turning her away; she seemed like a nice girl, but that doesn't change the fact that she openly stated her feelings about the Faunus.

In his free time he was studying monsters and other fighting techniques, and discovering what his eye could do. He did some research and found that a lot of snakes have a kind of thermal vision that makes it easier to stalk prey that was hiding and, with a few hours of practice, he could do it for about thirty seconds. It took a lot of concentration to focus his eyes the way it needed to in order him to switch to thermal vision.

Acronian was packing up his books and materials from the Grim studies class he was in, and a student charged him. Acronian caught the movement, but all too late. Even his little voice that seemed to pop up every once a while didn't speak up. The student was wielding a mace he had probably hid while it was some alternate form. The next thing he knew he was lying on a bed in the infirmary. He attempted to sit up, but his head hurt to much to move.

"Slow down there, Sally, you got beat up pretty bad. That kid got expelled for sure." A tall, slender boy in black who was bent over some medical devices. Black dress shirt, black dress pants, black dress shoes, black fedora, the guy was pale in comparison to the clothes. He turned around from the medical equipment and handed him a glass of green liquid.

"What's this? Who are you? How did I get to the infirmary?" Acronian asked.

The boy in black smirked, "Drink and I'll tell you." He replied.

Acronian took a few second to sniff the liquid and proceeded to drink it. It was a little bit sour at first, but it tasted sweet after a few moments. He downed the drink after just a few gulps.

"That was good, now who are you, and why are you here?" Acronian inquired, he could feel the pain in his head dissipating.

The boy sat down in the chair next to the bed, "My name is Tenzin Teal, I'm training to be a Medical Hunter. Y'know, a combat medic for the Hunters and Huntresses, you got pretty banged up in the halls when that kid Aaron attacked you. I think he was aiming for revenge from when you beat him in the arena." He said. Acronian did indeed remember his fight with Aaron, he was a slow-moving power player. Acronian remembered how all too easy it was to slip past him and strike him from behind.

Tenzin continued, "You're lucky that those bandages didn't come off; Professor Lucan was there to help you here almost as soon as it happened. They also explained that those bandages don't come off while I worked on your head, it was a little difficult but I managed." He said.

"So no one saw my head?" Acronian asked.

Tenzin nodded, "That is correct."

At that moment the door to the infirmary opened up and four girls came in at a very fast pace. "Acronian Valor!" The smallest one shouted.

Acronian looked their way, startled, "Yes, that's me. Could you keep it down, I just got attacked in the halls."

The same girl, small sporting a red combat skirt and cape, ignored Acronian and pointed her finger at him, "We challenge you to a battle."

Acronian wasn't actually all that surprised by the request; he had been anticipating a full team to come forward and challenge him. It didn't matter to him though; he had a plan.

"Nope." He said simply. The look on the girls' faces was priceless.

"Eh!" Another girl said, the one with blond hair, "But since you started accepting battles you haven't stopped." She said with disbelief.

"I said no," Acronian said, "Those matches were all duels, I don't think I'm ready fo match. On top of that, those matches were private: not to be disclosed, so who told you?" He asked, narrowing his eye.

Three of the girls looked a little flustered at that question, all except the girl in white, who looked a little smug. "Ozpin himself allowed us to challenge you. He said that you have been in the background too much with private battles." She held up a piece of paper with a smile, "My friends didn't think of this, but this is a letter from the headmaster sanctioning this battle tomorrow at noon, in the public arena."

Acronian's eye widened, he could not believe this. has ridiculous odds, the chances of winning are too small. However, with Ozpin being the one to put the battle into play, there was no possible way out, so he resided himself. "Ugh, okay, fine. I'll battle you, I'm assuming there will be a compensation for the victor, yes?" He asked.

The last girl, wearing black and a bow, spoke, "Yes, if we win, you show us your face. If you win, Ozpin will put in arrangements for you to get a team. Currently you are a loner in stand-alone team VALR right now, yes? There are apparently 7 transfer students from the other academies, enough for two teams if we include you."

Acronian couldn't believe it, a team? Seriously? Now how was he supposed to keep his secret a secret? He shook his head, "I can't accept those terms, they're far too out of my favor." He said.

"You have to accept the terms, Ozpin said you would be expelled if you didn't accept." Ice-Princess said, "Acronian, Ozpin believes in your skills, why not trust him? He wouldn't be doing this otherwise."

Acronian had to think over it for a second, if he lost, he'd have reveal his secret, if he won, it meant there was a chance at hiding it, at least for a while. If he seceded, he would be expelled and never figure out why he was sent to Beacon. The only option was to fight and win... Acronian couldn't see it any other way. 'Damn that Ozpin...' He thought to himself.

"Okay," he said, "I accept the battle, tomorrow at noon we fight. Before that happens I want your names, I can at least ask that much."

The four girls looked at each other and the red one nodded, and she raised her hand slightly, "I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose." She introduced herself.

The white one curtsied, "Weiss Schnee."

The blonde fist bumped Acronian, "Yang Xiao Long."

The girl in black kept her distance, "Blake Belladonna."

Acronian nodded, "And who's the leader?" He asked.

Ruby raised her hand slightly again, Acronian nodded. He had figured out how the team names were usually put together, "Well alright then, team RWBY, see you tomorrow, noon sharp. Wouldn't want to miss the showdown, huh? Prepare yourselves, I won't hold back." He said.

Yang laughed in agreement, "Then neither shall we."

A/N: I apologize for not posting in a while, but my stories aren't coming as fast I would have liked them too. I'm trying to set a schedule so that my stories will come out faster.


	7. Chapter 6

ACRONIAN:

"This is not what I agreed to when you told me to accept the duel requests." Acronian said frustratedly in front of Ozpin, "I thought the idea was to keep those matches confidential. You knew those duelists weren't good enough to defeat me, and now you're putting me up for a whole team. What am I when you're giving me two choices I don't like or agree with. I can't beat a whole team on my own and I don't know their skill level, how do you expect me to win?"

Ozpin took a sip of his coffee and spoke calmly, "Well, first part's easy enough: they are some of the best students we have here and before you speak, second off, your... body might hold enough secrets to easily beat them."

Acronian was bewildered, "So I'm an experiment?" He asked.

"Maybe."

The Snake Eye thought over this for a moment, "I want to change the stakes, then." He said.

The white-haired headmaster raised his eyebrow, "Go on, I'm listening." He replied.

Acronian took a deep breath, "I might not want some of the transfer students; suffice to say that they might not be trustworthy. I want at least two people from inside the school. After that I'll take whomever you want on my team."

Ozpin thought about this carefully, "There would be many complications with that request, why would you not want any of the transfer students?" He asked.

"I don't know them. I might only know a few people here in the school but they might be able to take my secret with a little more confidentiality if they find out than people who don't know me." Acronian replied.

Ozpin took another sip of his coffee, "Very well, I will see what I can do... But it all depends on who you want on your team. If you choose people whom I can't replace, then I can't be permitted to allow you to do this." He said.

"That's fine." Acronian replied.

...

TENZIN:

I knew everyone was going to watch the fight between the solo team VALR and the prodigy team RWBY, and I also knew that the kid on team VALR had just gotten an injury because I had treated it. I was put onto the medical staff on call since live bullets were allowed in this match and I had already operated on him. No one really knew the Faunus except the people in his classes but from the rumors that were circulating, this mysterious kid was an amazing fighter. I walked to the arena and found myself lost in a crowd; everyone wanted to see this fight. Team RWBY was popular because of their skills and how they communicate on the field, I heard that during the team selection runs the leader took down a Nevermore by cutting its head off with her scythe.

To be honest I don't think this kid can win against a force like that, but it was almost publicly announced that RWBY challenged the Faunus, not the other way around. I think this meant that RWBY either has something than this kid, or they want to prove they are better than him. Either way I look at it, it seems like they feel threatened by him, and it might be feasibly possible for VALR to best RWBY.

I took my seat in one of the seats close to the arena on standby for emergency, I had brought my medical kit with me so I was prepared for anything to happen. The large screens around the arena turned on and displayed profiles of each combatant, turns out the mysterious Faunus' name is Acronian Valor. Then the actual teams stepped into the arena from their respective preparation room and the *cough* team leaders approached each other at the center of the arena. They shook hands and a countdown appeared on the screens, so the teams took up their battle stances on their sides of the arena. Ruby extended her scythe, Yang loaded her gauntlets, and Blake and Weiss pulled out their swords, aaaaaaaand Acronian didn't do anything, just a runners' stance. Blake gave Acronian a funny look and suggested something to Ruby and turned her sword to a pistol, then the countdown hit zero.

...

ACRONIAN:

The buzzer sounded and Weiss and Blake started firing off their weapons, Weiss with her Dust and Blake with her gun. Acronian reacted like a normal person, he ran, but he ran straight at the team of four. Liquifying his movements and using his boost shots to dodge around the bullets, he pushed forward at a rapid pace. Ruby and Yang darted forward to meet Acronian before he got to Weiss and Blake. Ruby started with the first attack with her scythe and swung toward Acronians' midsection.

'Damn,' he though in an instant, 'Too fast, I'll have to fight here.' He ducked down, jumped and flipped, blocking the impact with his upward momentum and the sheathes on his back. Acronian twisted awkwardly after the impact and managed to kick Ruby in the back, causing her to stumble, but he landed funky and didn't have time to dodge Yang's punch to the face. He flew backward and hit the wall far behind him, his breath knocked out of him. The sharp pain in his eye came back with a fury when he stood back up and saw his opponents surrounding him and his back to the wall, nowhere to go. Acronian knew he was getting close to a memory but first, where would a smart person go?

Acronian drew his swords, slowly, to give an ambiance to the crowd and his opponents, then he switched to his mounted guns and shot the ground in front of the girls and they jumped back. This gave him the space he needed to escape the corner, he shot himself up alongside the wall and jumped off and over team RWBY. He landed and sheathed his swords and looked back, it was time to go offensive.

He had noticed a pattern with the projectiles that were fired at him before; they all had to take some time to fire again because of high recoil, calibre, and dust amount used. The white one would be the most problem because the fire rate could vary between times and types of shots, so she was first. After her would be miss fists, she can rapid fire. Then the high calibre red one, too much damage from one shot. The emo one would be last.

He launched toward Weiss, who was behind Ruby, Ruby took a powerful swing at Acronian and his instincts took over, 'Block the staff, not the blade.' Acronian drew one sword and stabbed at the pole part of the scythe before it hit him and pushed Ruby's head backward to the floor so he could charge Weiss. She readied her rapier and met Acronian in the middle, the two twirled around each other while the other three took shots at Acronian. He found an opening after feigning and flipped Weiss, causing her to take a missed shot from Yang in the foot. She screamed and fell to the ground.

Yang found herself starring at her friends' foot that she shot and quickly found herself starring instead at the back of Acronian's katana hitting her to the wall. Yang couldn't bring herself to get up from the haze her mind was in after she hit the wall and Ruby charged Acronian with a cry.

"I blocked you twice I'll do it thrice!" Acronian shouted as he turned his open sheath into a turret an shot the scythe multiple times and the scythe flew from Ruby's hand. Disarming of weapon was a form of victory in this match so Ruby was out, that left Blake Belladonna. It was no secret that she was one of the better duelists in the school but Acronian, being as reclusive as he was after classes and matches, didn't know that. Blake put her sheath back on her back and nodded at Acronian, sparking up a memory on how a formal battle is fought and he nodded back.

Acronian locked up his sheaths and readied his blade before charging the girl in black. She turned her blade sideways and as Acronian swung he realized his mistake; swinging from the side. He had expected her to parry but she had expected him to expect her to parry and didn't do that, instead she stabbed at him and Acronian awkwardly blocked, getting knocked back from the impact. His instincts thrown off now that he no longer had concentration he didn't notice Blake's blade flying through the air at him, attached to a ribbon. The blade swished past his ear and cut some of the bandages on his head, enough to display a little of his hair, which was crimson in color.

Blake pulled the ribbon and it wrapped itself around Acronian's chest, pulling him toward Blake at breakneck speeds. She punched Acronian down to his knees and was just about to hit him in the head to knock him out before Acronian regained control of his reflexes, unlocked his sheaths, and poked Blake in the stomach by transforming a sheath into a turret. She gave a grunt and a laugh and Acronian removed the ribbons and spin-tripped her, pointing his sword at Blake's throat. The buzzer sounded, and the match was over, the audience sat in silence, and the medical squad moved in to treat wounds.

Acronian got off of Blake, wheezing, his eye hurt like crazy and the world got fuzzy. He knew he was right on the edge of a memory, he could feel it. 'Winning the match did something,' He thought while he clutched his eye.

"Acronian! Are you alright?" Came the familiar voice of a boy in black, Tenzin.

Acronian continued to clutch his eye, and proceeded to groan in pain, "I'm fine," He whispered, "Amnesia... Memories... Returning."

"Wh-" He heard Tenzin start to speak, but the world dulled and Acronian fell unconscious.

A/N: I apologize for not updating in a really long time, I decided I wanted to take a break after working my rear end off in school studying for finals all that jazz. Anywho's, I should be back now and I hope you like the fight scene, I wouldn't say I'm the best at it especially since it's one of my first.

was what I originally wanted to say, but the chapter may have messed up a bit, I updated cuz it really did look extremely weird In the editor and not at all what it looked like in the preview. God I hope this was what you guys were talking about when you said fix the chapter... XD


	8. Chapter 7

Acronian remembered a few things while he was unconscious, the first being that was stuck in a lab for a good portion of his life, although what for was his secret. The second thing he remembered was that he had friends in the lab, he didn't remember faces or names, but he could remember 7 of them, they were all subjects too.

'Subjects to what,' Acronian thought in his dreams of murky blackness. A few hours later he realized he could open his eye. He found himself back in the infirmary, and the same bed he was in a few days ago. His eye no longer hurt and he had no idea how long he was out for. He tried leaning up but his left shoulder hurt like hell when he put pressure on it or moved it.

"Ah, shit that hurts." He grunted. He looked at his arm to see it in a sling and a cast.

Someone walked in the door a moment later, it was Tenzin. He grinned when he saw Acronian awake, "Afternoon sleeping beauty, you were out for a while." He said.

"How long?"

Tenzin looked at the clock, "about four days, seven hours, five minutes, and twenty eight seconds. Mrs. Goodwitch was getting antsy that you weren't going to wake up." He said.

Acronian was surprised, that wasn't even a good memory that he got, how long would he be out if he got back a major memory or something? He looked up at the roof and thought some things over, "How's the girl with the shot foot? Weiss is her name, right?"

Tenzin laughed at that statement, "I'd be more worried about yourself, Acronian. Weiss made it off a lot better than you did. Her foot took a removal of the bullet and some stitches, her boot blocked most of the damage. You, on the other hand, Blake got you real good when she wrapped you with her sword and fractured your shoulder. That's gonna take a while to heal, the fracture went all they way from your clavicle to your radius." He informed.

"That bad, huh? I didn't even realize." Acronian said.

"I'll bet you didn't, you were really into that fight. Hey, that makes you one of like five people that have solo'd a team of four in our class." Tenzin remarked.

"Really?" Acronian said, "It's that rare for someone to do that? I was just using common sense, I think."

"Hell yah it's rare, think about it; one v four against highly trained warriors. The odds weren't in your favor." Tenzin said. "Besides that, before you passed out you said something... It was something about you memories... returning? Are you an amnesiac? He asked.

Acronian looked at Tenzin, "Yah, I don't have any memories, a while ago, just before school started, I woke up with no memories. All I knew then was my name and a word, Beacon, so I came here. I think the key to my memories are here, or at least I'll find an answer as to how to get my memories back. Some things trigger memories though, like when I found my swords in an alley, I remembered how they worked when I put them on. So when I won that match I remembered something minor, I was a subject with seven other friends. As to what I was subjected to I don't remember still." He said.

Tenzin starred, "That is, certainly and interesting predicament, I don't quite know what to tell you despite my medic status. Now then, before you decide you need some sleep, you need to go see Headmaster Ozpin. I'm assuming it's to decide the winnings of your duel." He said.

Acronian grunted as he got up, "I get the feeling I'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future, huh?" He asked.

Tenzin grinned again, "That's not up to me to decide." He said as Acronian left the room.

Acronian proceeded to head to the center tower from the infirmary, he had a pretty good idea of the layout of the academy now and easily made his way through the corridors and passages leading to the center tower where Ozpin's office was. He was just passing the lunchrooms when he was stopped.

"Acronian! Wait." Safire shouted while trying to catch up to Acronian.

He turned around and rolled his eye, "Listen, I have to get to Ozpin's office, he said it was urgent." He said quickly and started walking away.

Safire grabbed his wrist and pulled him back strongly, "Listen to me, Acronian," She said pleadingly.

Acronian didn't really see any way out of this, so he decided to stay, "Okay, you have my attention." He said.

She let go of his wrist and heaved a sigh of relief, "You never gave me a chance to explain myself, any normal person would have seen that the logo on the cameras belonged to the Nav Corporation."

Acronian was taken aback by this statement, "What's the Nav Corporation?" He asked on a whim.

"Yah, I figured as much," She said, "The Nav Corporation is a technical industry that uses it's tech as a front to produce ads that spread dislike of the faunus. When I signed on with them three years ago I had no idea that that was their true intention. I signed a rock solid contract for four years to do their ads. They contact me every so often to produce an ad and a lot of times they stage it here at beacon. You don't understand how much I hate the job... I don't hate the faunus, please believe me. It was all a misunderstanding, I'm sorry."

Acronian thought about it for a second, "Why are you so intent on apologizing to me?" He asked.

Safire's face turned red, "Uh," She said, "I-I've never really lost a friend in that manner before... It just felt, wrong."

Acronian figured he didn't really have much choice in the matter and sighed, "Okay, I guess I'll believe you, since you came after me like that just to explain." He said.

Safire's face lit up, "You'll forgive me?" She asked excitedly.

"I think that's what I said..." Acronian responded awkwardly.

"Yay!" She said, bubbling.

Acronian held up a hand, "Listen, I'm glad we got that sorted out, but I really have to go now... Ozpin's kind of waiting." He said urgently.

Safire kept smiling, "Right, totally forgot." She said and started running to her next location. She turned around and shouted to Acronian, who continued walking, "Good job in the duel!"

Acronian waved and eventually got to the central tower and took the elevator up to Ozpin's office. The gears turned soothingly when he entered. Ozpin turned around in his chair, "Congratulations on your victory, Acronian. I don't have much time so I hope you have your two members from Beacon in mind for your team." He said.

Acronian smiled underneath his bandages, "Yah," He said, "I think I do."

Ozpin leaned forward, "Oh, and who do you have in mind." He asked.

"Well," Acronian started, "I could only pick from a couple of people, and I feel it's necessary to have people who might not feel menacing on the field on the team. With the addition of being able to talk to these two people I think I've made up my mind."

"Go on."

Acronian took a breath, "I think I want Tenzin Teal and Safire Shor." He said.

Ozpin looked at his desk and pulled activated a holographic screen on his desk, typed in a few keywords and pulled up the student profiles. He arched his eyebrows, "Are you sure you want these two students?" He asked, "You wouldn't want one of the members of RWBY?"

Acronian shook his head, "No, that just wouldn't feel right, they're too much attached to each other. That would be like splitting up a family." He said.

Ozpin arched his eyebrow, "I see. Well then, these two will work. I will inform Miss Shor of her team change shortly." He said.

"Why only one of them?"

"Mister Teal has yet to be assigned to a team because of his medical staff status, I will notify him of his addition to the team, but he won't be notified for changing teams." Ozpin said.

"I see," Acronian replied, "Well then, I'll leave the last member up to you." He started heading for the elevator.

"Before you go, however..."

Acronian stopped, "yes?"

"Did you have a team name in mind by the time you got here?"

Acronian thought for a few seconds before getting into the elevator, "ATLS." He said before the elevator closed.


	9. Chapter 8

8:45 AM, 2 Days Later:

ACRONIAN:

Acronian was nervously pacing his room, he had been thinking about his new predicament. He was 15 minutes from having to be super careful around three other people, because that's the time they were supposed to be showing up at the door. To top that off, he wasn't entirely sure what being a leader entailed; did he have to dictate their every move? Or was that in combat only? Did he have to come up with strategies? Or help them with their homework? No, Ozpin wouldn't mind it if he couldn't do that, but still, he was in the dark on this one. To top THAT off, the whole first year class was alight with the mysterious snake faunus that took down team RWBY single handedly in a live ammunition scenario. Since no one but Ozpin and Acronian had seen what was under the bandages, everyone wanted to know what was being hidden by the inky blackness of the cloth strips. So many people had stopped by his room or paused him in the halls to ask that Acronian had almost started yelling at people to go away.

Acronian looked at the clock and someone knocked on the door, Acronian jumped at the noise, 'Guess some people can be early, huh?' He thought. He opened the door and there stood Tenzin, dressed in his school uniform like he had just come from class, he still had his fedora.

"Hi." He said happily, "I didn't want to be late so I brought my stuff." He stepped to the side and showed the vast amount of boxes and suitcases sitting behind him.

Acronian starred in amazement, "How do you even have that much stuff?"

Tenzin looked at his things, "This is a lot of stuff?" He asked, "A lot of people have more stuff than this, and most of this is medical equipment..."

"I still fail to see where all this is necessary for a dorm room." Acronian said quizzically, "Need help getting that stuff in here?"

Tenzin sighed a sigh of relief, "Yes, that would be nice while the rest of the team arrives. Speaking of which, I've already been informed of Safire being in the team, but who's the last member?" He asked casually.

"Don't know, I left that up to Ozpin, I'm sure he'll get someone we can work with. He didn't say no to you guys on the team so I assume there's someone compatible."

Tenzin put his hands up, "Fair enough," He said, "Fair enough."

The two got started moving the boxes into the room and something occurred to Acronian, "Wait, how do you know Safire?" He asked.

Tenzin froze, "Did I say I know her?"

"No."

"Then why do you have the assumption that I know her?" He asked.

Acronian thought for a second, "Well, you used her first name, for starters. You also said it pretty casually too, seemed like you knew her prior to coming here."

Tenzin chuckled in response, "You're pretty perceptive," He said, "I originally studied with her at a small academy called Grizzam Academy in Atlas. It was my last year there when we found out that we were half related."

"What?!" Acronian almost dropped his box he was carrying.

"We share a mother, my mom left my dad and I for some other guy just after I was born and I guess had a kid a year later. That kid was Safire, and somehow she managed to stay local and we met at Grizzam, when we found out I decided to hang back a year so she could catch up." He explained wistfully.

Acronian looked at Tenzin, "Wow, didn't know that."

"Most people don't, but I guess you should know now that you're our leader."

"Listen," Acronian sighed and put down the box, "I don't want you to think I'm special just because I'm a leader... I don't know the first thing about leading and on top of that, you know I'm an amnesiac." He said.

"True," He replied, "I don't expect you to know what you're doing straight up but that is what a team is for right? Helping each other so none of us are in the dark?"

"Sure, I guess."

Just then there was a knock on the door, "I see boxes, does that mean I can come in?!" Came a cheerful familiar voice.

Tenzin looked at the door, "Come on in Saf, we were just bringing in my stuff!" He yelled to the door.

"Tenzin? Is that you?" She asked as she opened the door.

"Yes."

"Oh, I didn't know you were going to be on the team, it's good to see you outside of that infirmary wing you're always in." She said.

Tenzin walked over to Safire and put her in a playful choke hold, "I'm not ALWAYS in there, I just prefer it there because that's where my stuff is." He said and gave her a noogie.

"You can't deny it Tenny, you know you love it in there." She giggled an skillfully maneuvered her way out of the hold and put Tenzin in a similar position on the ground.

"Oi! Saf, you big lard, we're not sparring, get off. Need me to pressure you?" He threatened.

"Okay, okay." She got up and spotted Acronian standing awkwardly off to the side. "Yo."

Acronian blinked, "Yo?"

"Wait," she said, "You don't know what 'yo' is?"

"No."

"Where have you been living these past few years?" She asked with genuine confusion.

"Don't know." He responded simply.

"What do you me-" Tenzin pulled her to the side and whispered a few things in her ear, most likely about Acronian being an Amnesiac.

"Ah, I see now." She said, "I'm sorry, Acronian, I didn't know you had no memories of your past." She apologized.

Once again, Safire was sorry for something she had done to Acronian, "Safire, it's fine, including you there's only four people who know about it." He said.

"Really? Well then, you're secret is safe with me."

Acronian sighed, he was wondering whether he could handle her hyperactivity for the rest of his time at Beacon, "That would be for the best." He said.

The three stepped outside the room and looked down the halls for the last member of the team but no one was to be found. Instead, they found a new pile of boxes and cases much larger than the amount Tenzin had. "You've gotta be kidding me," Said Acronian as they started moving the boxes in. It didn't take too long with three people to move the boxes into the room and it was only ten minutes before all the boxes were moved.

Almost a half hour later there was another knock on the door, "That must be the 'L' in our team." Acronian said, and he walked over to the door.

?

I was so absolutely nervous when I knocked on the door, 'Is this the right one? Are they mean? I heard the leader can solo an entire team.' I kept thinking that this would be the end of my desire to be a huntress because I'd be standing in the shadows of someone greater than me. On my way here I had noticed that many people knew where I was heading, I heard snickers of "Oh boy, yet another fan going to ask for advice from the Great Shadow." and, "That duel was rigged you know. He's a snake, that's why he won."

It seemed that the comments got to me and soon enough I was standing in front of the dorm with what little stuff I had brought with me and the door opened. I froze, the guy looked menacing right off the bat, black bandages everywhere, even on his head. "I'm sorry," I said instinctively.

The guy looked confused, "Oh no, not another person looking for advice, how many times so I have to tell you people that I don't know how to teach." He said irritably.

I shrank away a little, what did he mean advice? I panicked a little... "Ah, I'm sorry... I think this is the wrong room..."

"Oh," He said, sounding brighter instantly, "What room are you looking for? I know the dorms like the back of my hand."

I thought about for a mere moment, "I'm, uh, looking for this room here." I said and pulled out this piece of paper that Professor Ozpin gave to me when I arrived at Beacon, "I just got here and I'm looking for my team, maybe you know them, I've heard the leader is famous."

The guy froze, "Uh, which leader are you looking for?" He asked.

I looked at the backside of the paper, "Acroni-"

"Welcome to the team," He interrupted, extending a hand, "My name is Acronian Valor, and you must be our 'L.'"

"Oh, uhn, hi." I said awkwardly and shook his hand, it felt like nothing but raw strength with a certain tenderness to it. He may have looked scary, but he didn't feel too threatening.

Acronian stepped out of the doorway to reveal two other people unpacking a large amount of boxes, "Please, come in, where's your stuff?" He asked, looking around.

I turned a little to reveal the single suitcase behind me, "It's right here... I can handle it." I said subconsciously, I didn't want him asking if he could help, and I walked in.

The first thing I noticed were the numerous items the other two had strewn about; crates of vials, test tubes, hangers, pictures, bed pieces, jewelry, too many things to list. The second thing I noticed was the large mirror on the wall, reflecting my outfit; my silver hair shimmering down to my lower back, my light purple dress that hugged my stomach, covered my right shoulder, and cut off at my thighs. The thick gold and black sash across my waist holding my carrying pouch glinted in the sunlight streaming through the windows, I had decided not to wear my gloves for fear that they would be too fancy for a first meeting. My feet were covered by short heels and my left leg was covered by a long dark stocking, and the white cloth attached to my sash hung down and gathered around my left leg as it was supposed to.

I looked, compared to the other three, way too regal to be among them, or even here for that matter. My cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Hey," Acronian said to the other two, "This here is the last one, uhm, what's your name? If you don't mind me asking."

When I didn't say anything due to my thought process he asked me again, "Oi, you in there?"

WI blinked, "Oh right, my name... My name is Lux Reagus." I said.

"Lux, huh? Solid name, very bright." Said the kid in black.

"Tenzin!" The girl said, slapping him on the back of the head, "That's not something you say to someone you just met, this is why you needed to get out of that infirmary."

The black one, Tenzin, retaliated with his own slap, "I was perfectly fine in there and you know it, Safire."

"Like hell you were." Safire joked.

"Alright alright guys," Acronian said, stepping in between the two, "you two have some unpacking to do." He turned to me, "The guy here is Tenzin Teal. And the girl is Safire Shor."

"Uh, I think I got it."

"Well then, Lux. Welcome to team ATLS, I look forward to working with you."

A/N: This chapter took an incredible amount of time to creatively put together, so I was working rather actively on this one. I know it's a little boring probably but it was necessary. I wanted to switch to the eye point of Lux because I don't think I've been taking advantage of my perspective changes quite enough and it made things a little complex for me to write out her description in there, especially since what I was visualizing in my head physically could not be put to words, but I got the gist of it.


End file.
